Ljubljana Old Town

The Franciscan church

The start of a week's holiday in Ljubljana and what better way to begin than with a walk around the old town. The walk begins in the pedestrianised Presernic Trg (square), named for the country's greatest poet.

The square is dominated by the church, known in full as the Franciscan church of the Annunciation of Mary. It was mainly built between 1646 and 1660 in the baroque style, although the twin towers and the plasterwork of the facade were added later. I thought it was reminiscent of the Gesu in Rome - and I was thrilled when my Architectural Guide to Ljubljana made the same point.

We crossed the Ljubljanica river over the famous triple bridge. You really need a photo from an elevated position to appreciate it, but essentially the central bridge dating from 1842 was augmented in 1931 by two narrower footbridges to the designs of the great Slovenian architect Joze Plecnik.



We turned left with Plecnik's extraordinary colonnaded Central Market of 1939 between us and the river.



Part of the way along you can look through the columns to get a view of the art nouveau Dragon Bridge (1900-01). The lights are very characteristic and the four dragons on the corners are very fine.


From here, we doubled back through Vodnikov Trg, where the market was in full swing, to pass to the left of the baroque Cathedral of St Nicholas (1708). There are fine modern bronze doors added in 1996 to commemorate a visit by Pope John Paul II



A bit further on, we came to the 18th century Town Hall in Mestni Trg (Town square), with the Robba fountain nearby.



We walked along the road into Stari Trg (Old Square - a complete misnomer, it is just a a street) and turned left into Gornji Trg (Upper Square - also doubtful, it is open at one end but extends uphill just like any other street).

About half way along we turned left by another baroque church (St Florian) and made the quite steep climb up to the castle sitting on its hilltop at 376m. It looks quite forbidding at first but most of what is now there is the result of a renovation in the 1980s.




It is now used for concerts and cultural events, but does offer the Belvedere Tower with views over the city. By now it was raining quite heavily and the viewing platform was closed, so we had to make do with the view through a window. The Franciscan church is clearly visible.



However, the best bit of the castle was open - the Chapel of St George of 1747, with its wonderful decoration and frescoes.



We descended a very steep switch-back path on the other side of the castle and soon found ourselves back in the market square.

Conditions: cloudy, wet, but not too cold. (The two pictures with blue sky were taken on another day.)

Distance: about 3 miles.

Rating: four stars. A great introduction to the city. The walk was almost entirely within the pedestrianised area.